Side for railway-cars.



0. PP MURRAY. SIDE FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPLICATION TILED DEC.11, 1909.

Patented Nov. 28, 1911.

tinrlrnn sra'rns PATENT carton.

GHARLES F. MURRAY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR F ONE-THIRD TO WILLIAM V.-

KELLEY AND ONE-THIRD T0 ROBERT P. LAMONT, BOTH OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND ONE-THIRD TO WILSON W. BUTLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SIDE FOlEt RAILWAY-CABS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES F. lifUnnaY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sides for Railway- Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The purpose of the present invention is to maintain tight the joints or seams between boards or planks disposed edge to edge to form a wall, the invention-being particularly adapted for employment in connection with the walls of railway box-cars, though it should be understood that it is not limited or restricted .to this particular use. As is well known, lumber has a decided tendency to shrink and contract transversely, and when a car-body wall is made of a single thickness of boards or planks, unless some especial means is provided the joints or seams between such boards have a tendency to open up, offering means for a loss of the contents of the car, provided the sameis composed of small particles such as grain, and offering access of the outer air to the interior of the car.

it is to overcome or ofi-set the detrimental features occasioned by such, shrinking that l[ have produced the invention herein set forth, which briefly stated, comprises the employment of automatically expansible means associated with such board seams so as to maintainthe same closed even though the boards shrink to a considerable extent. lin the accompanying drawing, which forms 'a part of this specification, I have indicated two. desirable embodiments of the invention, although the latter is susceptible of a considerable number of. others.

In this drawingFigure 1 is a fragmentary face View of a wall, such as that of a railway car-body, composed of boards or planks disposed edge to edge and provided with one style of my improvedmeans for keeping closed such joints or seams between the boards; Fig. Qis a vertical cross-section through the wall construction shown in Fig. 1, and indicates therelation of the parts before shrinkage occurs; Fig. 3, which is an enlarged cross-section of a portion of the wall, shows the manner in which the expansible insert or filler keeps the joint or seam closed after the shrinkage has taken Specification of Letters Patent.

' Application filed December 11, 1909.

Patented Nov. 28, igilll.

serial no. 532,607.

place; Fig. 4: is a fragmentary elevation of a part of the wall incorporating a modified embodiment of the invention; Fig. 5 is a vertical cross-sectio1 through such wall; and Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating the manner in which this particular form of expansible' metal strio acts to keep the joint closed after the shrinkage has occurred.

Referring again to Fig. 1, it -will be noticed that the wall, as for instance the side or end wall of a railway car-body,,is composed of a number of boards or planks 10 disposed edge to edge, and in the present instance arranged horizontally, although such disposition in no way aflects the invention.

The opposite longitudinal edges of such boards are recessed or grooved at 11, in the form and style shown clearly in Fig. 3 so as to accommodate between them in each joint a sheet-metal automatically expanding spring hollow strip or body 12 of general cross shape in cross-section and split or divided longitudinally at one point 13, whereby to permit the automatic expansion referred to. Preferably, though not necessarily, this di vided split or slit isdisposed inwardly of the car-body wall, for the obvious purpose of having the exterior of thewall present a neater appearance, and to prevent the. entrance of dirt, rain, etc., to the interior of such strip. When the wall is first constructed, the boards 10, 10 are placed practically in contact with the expansible metal strips housed in the registering and matching grooves or recesses of the boards, such strips, when the wall is first formed, being contracted as. indicated in Fig.2, so that when the boards tend to shrink these fillers may automatically expand, owing to their spring action, so as to maintain closed the joints between the boards, as is indicated clearly in Fig. 3. Of course, these spring fillers need not be of the particular shape in cross-section shown in the drawing, since a considerable variety of styles and shapes would satisfactorily perform the required function. It has been found, however, that this style and shape of filler will successfully accomplish the result required.

in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 a different embodiment of the invention is illustrated, and in this case the boards or planks 14 are longitudinally grooved at 15 along only one edge, so

that such grooved edge in the wall is in v proximity or adjacent to the fiat edge 16 of flanges 18 lying against the flat edge 16 of the board, such strip having along its longitudinal center a V-shaped rib l9 housed or received within the groove 15 of the next board. When a wall of this kind is erected these fillers or inserts are compressed somewhat out of their normal shape to that shown in Fig. 5, whereby when the boards or planks shrink laterally these inserts o1 fillers can expand to take their normal shape shown in Fig. 6, and because of such automatic expansion they keep the joints between the boards closed at all times.

Having indicated two embodiments of the invention, I desire to direct attention to the ing to the sides of the board for the purpose of sealing the joint.

. CHARLES F MURRAY.

Witnesses:

- CLARE L. ROSENOW,

M. A. Krnnm. 

